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Roald Dahl challenge week two: James and the Giant Peach

The second Roald Dahl challenge has arrived, and it’s time for you to take a ride in your very own Giant Peach! Take part in the challenge to be in with a chance of winning a bundle of his most famous books.

The challenge

For this challenge, we’re asking children to venture into the outdoors for their daily walk (or this could be done in your garden if you have one) and look for three different insects. Imagine that these critters can grow to the same size as you and will become your travel buddies for your very own giant peach.

We want you to write a newspaper report about the journey in your giant peach. Where will your peach travel and where will it land (it could land somewhere in Middlesbrough for all to see or maybe somewhere far, far away)? You could even interview the minibeasts for the newspaper report, and describe any of their special skills – in the book, the glow worm uses his tail as a light.

This James and the Giant Peach resource from Puffin includes extracts from the book, minibeast fact files, and bonus activities!

Listen to the opening of James and the Giant Peach on Soundcloud for free

The winners

Early years winner: Oscar, age 2 - we really liked the way Oscar has created his nature collage and has had a good go at labelling his picture. Mark making is such an important activity for younger children, as they explore holding crayons and talk about what they are writing.

Key Stage 1 winner: Elsie Shields, age 5 - Elsie wrote a story called 'Elsie and the magical potion' featuring a butterfly, a bee and an ant. We were impressed with how creative this story was and we'd love to spend a night in beehive to watch them make their lovely honey.

Key Stage 2 winner: Jacob Dewar, age 10 – Jacob's newspaper report was very impressive! He managed to to link in a real life news event with a fictional story which is very clever. He also used some brilliant alliteration, and his report had lots of features of a newspaper. We hope to read a story like this in the Gazette one day Jacob!

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